Fascinating. When selecting which strips to use, is it true that you focus more on grain orientation than on cracks/checks and knots? And then you orient the strips to hide the checks/knots? If so, is that because the grain orientation is more important structurally than those checks and knots?
Grain orientation is most important, cracks and knots are more of an aesthetic consideration (unless we're talking about a structural, load bearing member). Imagine a laminated piece where all strips have their growth rings oriented vertically (like in a quarter sawn board) -- except one strip which has them running flat. If the strips are not completely dried down to their final moisture content, and perhaps they were a bit on the wet side to begin with, the difference in shrinkage would probably become visible through the paint. Same happens if the strips in a lamination are too different in 'characteristics' (slow / fast grown etc.) I've seen it in cheap, industrial outside doors (?) where the stiles and rails are made of finger-jointed (lengthwise) strips of random quality. These doors are often just given a thin coat or two of sprayed-on paint that does little to hide the resulting surface unevenness -- you can 'see' the strips through the paint. Not nice.
Fascinating. When selecting which strips to use, is it true that you focus more on grain orientation than on cracks/checks and knots? And then you orient the strips to hide the checks/knots? If so, is that because the grain orientation is more important structurally than those checks and knots?
Grain orientation is most important, cracks and knots are more of an aesthetic consideration (unless we're talking about a structural, load bearing member). Imagine a laminated piece where all strips have their growth rings oriented vertically (like in a quarter sawn board) -- except one strip which has them running flat. If the strips are not completely dried down to their final moisture content, and perhaps they were a bit on the wet side to begin with, the difference in shrinkage would probably become visible through the paint. Same happens if the strips in a lamination are too different in 'characteristics' (slow / fast grown etc.) I've seen it in cheap, industrial outside doors (?) where the stiles and rails are made of finger-jointed (lengthwise) strips of random quality. These doors are often just given a thin coat or two of sprayed-on paint that does little to hide the resulting surface unevenness -- you can 'see' the strips through the paint. Not nice.
That makes sense. Thank you!